July 08, 2019

For quite a few seasons Pierpaolo Piccioli has been experimenting with Pasolinean inspirations on Valentino's runways. These references aren't usually too literal as Piccioli vaguely hints at a palette of colours filtered through Italian mannerists such as Rosso Fiorentino and combines them with further art inspirations.

Yet Pasolini's connoisseurs will easily spot in Piccioli's collections clear references to his Trilogy of Life, with moods that seem lifted from the certain scenes or costumes from The Decameron and The Canterbury Tales.

In Valentino's Haute Couture A/W 19 collection, showcased in Paris last week and inspired by diversity, inclusivity, Richard Avedon portraits, Irving Penn's "Worlds in a Small Room" series, and Diana Vreeland, there were two gowns that evoked visions of Laura Betti as the wife of Bath in Pasolini's 1972 film The Canterbury Tales.

The first design to evoke the costume for Betti designed by Danilo Donati was a voluminously grand and opulet billowing taffeta cape matched with a velvet dress; the second design that referenced Betti's costume was a cape with oblong cut-outs matched with a dress with rhombus-shaped cut-outs, accessorised with a tasseled hat that homaged different cultures.

Danilo Donati's costume for Laura Betti as the wife of Bath was a monumental velvet design with a cape with rhombus cut-outs matched with a large headdress.

Piccioli actually evoked Betti's costume also in Valentino's A/W 18 collection, but, if you rewatch a Pasolini film from the Trilogy of Life, you will easily realise where Piccioli's combinations of ochre, lilac, rose, emerald, aquamarine and browns come from.

Piccioli stated during a preview of the A/W 19 collection that through his designs he tried to pay homage to women who are bold and daring. In a way actress, director and singer Laura Betti was a bold and daring woman and if, like Piccioli you're a fan, you should maybe check her album featuring Piero Umiliani's orchestra (now available in its digital version by Kutmusic) that includes quite a few hilarious tracks, some of them written by Pasolini himself.